Bonding is used particularly to connect the outwardly visible terminals in an electronic circuit,—also referred to as pins—to chip connectors via bonding wires, thereby creating contact points. In this context, the bonding wire particularly assumes the function of the electrical connection between the integrated circuit and a substrate.
When manufacturing component arrangements of such kind, it is particularly important to pay attention to the correct formation of the bond connections, so that they guarantee the necessary current flow in operation. In this context, on the one hand attempts are made to produce bond connection with improved properties. For a thick wire bonding arrangement, it is suggested in document DE 10 2010 038 130 A1 to provide a tapered section at the end of the bonding wire in the region of the bonding section for which the bond connection is designed.
To ensure that the electrical contact is adequate in the context of bond connections, checks are made in spot-check manner with one or more bonding connections in production after the component arrangement is made to verify that they have been made correctly. For this, a “shear test” is employed, in which shearing forces are applied to the bonding connections on the test sample to verify its mechanical stability.
In document CN 103 579 032 A, it is suggested to inspect the aluminium bonding connection thermally with a thermosensor system after it is produced. The use of infrared imaging is provided, in order to determine temperature distribution.
Document WO 2011/156527 A1 discloses a method for non-destructive testing of electronic components. The object is to identify three-dimensional “hot spots” identified using Lock-in Thermography (LIT).